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War Criminals

Iftekhar tells Ban Ki-moon about growing demand for UN role in trial

JULFIKAR Al l MANIK and Rashidul Hasan
Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury has informed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of a "popular sentiment” for involving the UN in the process for trying war criminals of Bangladesh's LiberationWar in 1971.
Calling on the UN secretary general at the UN Headquarters in New York on Monday, Iftekhar told him that there is a growing demand for the trial of the war criminals, said a press release of the permanent mission of Bangladesh to the UN.
Following the unprecedented move, war heroes, eminent citizens and members of martyrs' families yesterday told The Daily Star that the government should formally request the UN for its involvement in the trial process. They said the government should take initiatives to try the war criminals without delay and the UN should come forward.
The issue of trying the war criminals had been discussed in various international forums including the UN Human Rights Commission but this is the first time in 37 years since Bangladesh's independence that the government officially informed the top UN official of the demand.
Experts said the government should not limit its initiative to only informing the UN secretary general of the issue; it should ensure UN's involvement in holding the trial of the war criminals.
Deputy chief of Liberation Forces Air Vice Marshal (retd) AK Khandker in his reaction told The Daily Star last night that raising the issue before the UN top boss through the foreign adviser indicates the government's positive attitude towards it.
"But I think the government must take it up to the UN absolutely formally for its help as did Camoodia and other countries," said Khandker, also president of Sector Commanders Forum. He said he hopes that the UN will respond positively.
Shahriar Kabir, prominent researcher on war crimes and acting president of Ekatturer Ghatok Dalal Nirmul Committee, said, ”We demand trial of both Pakistani and Bangladeshi war criminals.
"We expect UN's role in trying the Pakistani war criminals but now we are more concerned about the trial of Bangladeshi war criminals, "he said.
The government can form a special tribunal under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973 and can seek UN expertise on how to collect documents and evidence of war crimes, he added.
The government can also request the UN to send observers to witness the trial process.
Dr MA Hasan, convener of War Crimes Facts Finding Committee, told The Daily Star that Bangladesh should seek the UN help in writing so that it cannot remain inactive regarding the issue.
"This is also an obligation of the UN to ensure the trial of war criminals as Bangladesh ratified the UN Convention on Genocide 1948 [in 19981," headded.
"The UN can help us in forming the tribunal and can send international jurists to help the enquiry commission regarding war crimes," he said.
Shaheen Reza Noor, president of Proionmo 71, an organisation of the children of martyrs of the Liberation War, told The Daily Star that the government will have to pursue the matter to ensure UN's involvement. Meanwhile, the government should take other necessary actions to start the trial.
National and international communities raised the demand for the trial of war criminals immediately after the emergence of Bangladesh on December 16,1971.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman took the initiative to try the war criminals and formulated several laws to this end, but all ended after his brutal killing in 1975.
Families and relatives of martyrs, victims of war crimes, freedom fighters, socio-political and cultural organisations, human rights bodies, leading professionals and eminent citizens of the country waged movements on numerous occasions for the war criminals' trial. But due attention was never paid to the demand.
In the early 1990s. Shaheed Janani (mother of martyrs) Jahanara Imam took to the street with the demand and hundreds of thousands of people joined her. Unfortunately, the movement failed because of the negligence of the authorities concerned.
After this caretaker government assumed power last year, the demand was raised again with the initiation of different government drives against corruption and irregularities committed by high-profile graft suspects.
The expectation gradually turned into a desire. At one stage, the sector commanders of the Liberation War and war heroes became united last year to press home the demand.